Tag Archives: COVID Update

Post #64 – 1/8/22 – Weekly Schedule, Polls, The Pairwise & NCAA Tourney, Sifters

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In This Post…

  • We’ll take a look at the upcoming weekly D-I schedule|
  • See who’s ranked in the USCHO .com, USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine, & the NCAA ‘Power 10’|
  • The Pairwise & NCAA Tourney|
  • COVID Thoughts |
  • Sifters… Little tidbits of news and info from around women’s college hockey|

D-I Weekly Schedule

We are going to try a new format for displaying the weekly schedule as well as games played with links to box scores. Formatting from USCHO.com is not kind to mobile users. So to help, we will be using the links CHN – College Hockey News.

As D-I teams are back from the holiday break, most anyway, so too are COVID related scheduling postponements and adjustments as COVID cases pile up within programs. Game status’ seem to change by the hour. It’s reminiscent of what happened last year around this same time. We’ll try to keep you updated on which games are impacted as much as we are able.

The composite schedules of each respective conference will probably have the most up to date scheduling change info – so just click the link for any conference’s composite schedule.

Conference Schedules
Hockey East
ECAC
NEWHA
CHA
WCHA
Make sure to scroll down

PPD = Postponed, CNCLD = Cancelled, TBD = To Be Determined

Friday, Jan. 7, 2022

RIT vs. Sacred Heart, TBD

Merrimack vs. Northeastern

Holy Cross vs Maine, Saturday, PPD until Sunday Jan. 9th

Providence vs. New Hampshire

Clarkson vs. Princeton

Minnesota-Duluth vs. St. Cloud State, CNCLD

St. Lawrence vs. Quinnipiac, PPD, Make-up date TBD

Syracuse vs. Minnesota State, CNCLD

Connecticut vs. Vermont

Harvard vs. Colgate PPD to Saturday 1/8

Lindenwood vs. Ohio State

Rensselaer vs. Brown

Union vs. Yale PPD, PPD, Make-up date TBD

Long Island vs. Mercyhurst, TBD

Boston University vs. Boston College, PPD

Dartmouth vs. Cornell PPD to Saturday 1/8

Sacred Heart vs RIT, CNCLD

Saint Michael’s vs. Franklin Pierce, CNCLD

Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022

Holy Cross vs Maine, PPD until Monday Jan. 10

UNION vs. Brown, PPD, Make-up date TBD

Brown vs. RPI (at Brown, RPI designated Home team)

Dartmouth vs Cornell

St. Lawrence vs. Princeton, PPD, Make-up date TBD

Clarkson vs. Quinnipiac

RPI vs. Yale, PPD, Make-up date TBD

Sacred Heart vs RIT, CNCLD

Long Island vs. Mercyhurst, TBD

Saint Michael’s vs. Franklin Pierce, CNCLD

Syracuse vs. Minnesota State, CNCLD

Minnesota-Duluth vs. St. Cloud State, CNCLD

St. Thomas vs. Minnesota

Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022

Dartmouth vs. Colgate

Harvard vs, Cornell

St. Thomas vs. Minnesota

Monday, Jan. 10, 2022

Harvard vs. Colgate

Game results, box scores, and statistics come directly from CHN – College Hockey News, USCHO.com or the NCAA’s official stats site HERE.

Video highlight links are to individual program produced media, some of which may be found on team twitter or other social media accounts – so scroll the feed to see the game highlights.

Postgame links are any postgame video produced by individual programs and found on either team websites or social media accounts.

Don’t See a link… for video highlights or postgame? Assume there was none available at the time of our post.

D-I Top 10 Polls

Also receiving votes: Harvard 8, Providence 1

January 3, 2022

The second half of the women’s college hockey season is underway, which means it’s time to get right back to the Power 10 rankings. 

Not every team was in action this past weekend, but the matchups of Wisconsin-Quinnipiac and Harvard-Minnesota Duluth were enough to release a fresh batch of rankings. 

One thing to note before we get started is that the “previous” on each section is from the final rankings of the first half and not the rankings of the first half as a whole. 

Let’s get started. 

1. Wisconsin (18-1-2) | Prev: 2 

Wisconsin is back in the saddle as the No. 1 team in the nation, and rightfully so. They took Quinnipiac down, 5-2, in Game 1 on Saturday and then skated to a 1-1 tie with the Bobcats Sunday. 

Sophomore forward Casey O’Brien potted a goal this past weekend, extending league-leading goal total to 21. She also added an assist, which brings her league-leading point total to 38. The sophomore was one of college hockey’s biggest offensive threats through the first half. It doesn’t look like anything’s changed in half No. 2. 

The Badgers are off this upcoming weekend, but will pick play up against Wisconsin-Eau Claire on Jan. 10. 

2. Northeastern (16-2-1) | Prev: 1 

The Huskies didn’t play this past weekend and haven’t since Dec. 5. 

They’ll begin their second half this Friday against Merrimack. 

3. Ohio State (15-3-0) | Prev: 3 

Ohio State also didn’t play this past weekend. It will begin the second half this Friday against Lindenwood. 

4. Quinnipiac (15-2-3) | Prev: 6 

The Bobcats move up two spots in this Power 10 due to their 1-1 tie of Wisconsin in the second game. 

Goalie Corinne Schroeder was the biggest reason why Quinnipiac escaped with a tie. The graduate student turned aside 41 of Wisconsin’s 42 shots. Because of her performance, she won ECAC goalie of the week. Schroeder also owns the country’s second best save percentage (.959) and third-best goals against average (1.07). 

The Bobcats get right back at it this Friday against St. Lawrence. 

5. Minnesota (14-5-1) | Prev: 4 

The Golden Gophers didn’t play this past weekend. They open the second half this Saturday against St. Thomas. 

6. Minnesota Duluth (11-7-0) | Prev: 7 

The Bulldogs opened their second half with two solid wins over Harvard, taking down the Crimson, 5-2, in Game 1 and then, 4-3, in Game 2. 

Senior forward Gabbie Hughes potted four goals on the weekend, bringing her season-tally to 14, which is tied for fourth in the nation. Fifth-year Anna Klein chipped in with a two-goal weekend. 

Next up is a road series with St. Cloud State. 

7. Colgate (15-4-1) | Prev: 5 

Colgate didn’t play this past weekend. It opens the second half this Friday against Harvard. 

8. Yale (10-3-1) | Prev: 8 

Yale also didn’t play this past weekend. It opens the second half on Tuesday against Sacred Heart. 

9. Clarkson (15-2-3) | Prev: 10 

The Golden Knights didn’t play this past weekend. They open the second half this Friday against Princeton. 

10. Harvard (9-5-0) | Prev: 9 

Harvard opened its second half with two disappointing losses to Minnesota Duluth by scores of 5-2 and 4-3. Despite the two losses, Harvard stays ranked this week because the Bulldogs were the team that had the higher rank in their matchup. 

The Crimson get a chance to right the ship on Friday at Colgate. 

USCHO Division I PairWise Rankings

What is the PairWise and why are we including it?

The USCHO.com PairWise Ranking is a system which attempts to mimic the method used by the NCAA Selection Committee to determine participants for the NCAA National Collegiate Women’s hockey tournament. The PWR compares all teams by these criteria: record against common opponents, head-to-head competition, and the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI).

For each comparison won, a team receives one point. The final PWR ranking is based on the number of points (comparisons) won against teams under consideration. Ties are settled by the RPI.

The PWR can be reformatted and redistributed by any media outlet or person, provided USCHO’s URL (https://www.uscho.com/) accompanies the results.

WCH-PDF-Jan-6-USCHO-PWR-1-6-22Download

COVID Thoughts…

We Need to Figure This Out… Recent numbers of positive cases within college hockey programs have fueled game postponements and cancelations. A lot of people, and rightly so, are on edge. Coaches, players, conference commissioners, and school athletic and health administrators to name just a few. The CDC and now the NCAA have provided new guidance how how to manage life with COVID. The NCAA came out with a statement for winter sports Jan. 6, you can read it HERE.

From a scheduling standpoint, it seems like NCAA hockey is back to where it was last year around this time. No one will know if they are going to play until almost the very last minute. It seems like conference schedules are changing by the hour. But this time around, things are different.

For starters, most within a college hockey program has been vaccinated and or boosted. That was not the case last year. The CDC recently cut its quarantine time in half to 5 days for those who test positive. The new NCAA guidance follows that recommendation. Part of the problem with recommendations – they are just that – recommendations. There is no national NCAA COVID protocol standards forced upon schools. Each school can make up their own protocol how to decide who plays/coaches etc. Last season, if you tested positive, players/coaches/staff were out at minimum 10 days. And until a few days ago, the college hockey season had gone on with every program back playing a normal schedule. Not that there wasn’t the odd game postponement or player out due to COVID protocol. But the year was as normal as any could be with the pandemic still raging on.

Some schools/programs aren’t testing much at all – perhaps only if someone has symptoms. Others are testing all players & staff 2 or 3 times weekly. Different protocols are in place for different schools. At this very moment we’ve heard athletes who test positive at one school are out a min. 16 days while at other institutions it’s only 7 or the NCAA recommended 5 days. As of Friday Jan 7, there were 19 D-I Women’s games alone canceled or postponed, which tells me teams and conferences are getting more cases than their athletic/medical departments feel comfortable with. If D-I women’s and men’s basketball is any indication of how things are going to go for hockey. Most campuses don’t have all of their students back yet. Hockey could be a mess for the next 4-6 weeks before things can get back to normal.

Ultimately, I don’t feel we’ll go a place where the season gets cut short like the Spring of 2020. As with most things in life when there is a great unknown, caution reigns supreme. Science knows little about Omicron. And that means most school administrators/decision makers know just as little.

Sifters…

NCAA COVID Eligibility Update… The NCAA just updated its ‘Eligibility Center FAQ’ for D-I & D-II athletes entering college for next fall. With Schools such as Harvard responding to the pandemic by going ‘Test Optional’ in the admissions process over the next several years, perhaps the NCAA Eligibility Center will take a similar approach or evaluate its criteria on a year-by-year basis? I can’t imagine the NCAA requiring SAT/ACT scores in the future and Harvard and others do not.

You can read the NCAA’s Updated PDF below

WCH-NCAA-EC-COVID-Updated-Guidance-1-6-22Download

Conference POW’s… Usually when you see the ‘POW’ one might think a list of each conferences ‘players’ of the week… not so in this case. Think of this segment as more of a VPOW – or Video Plays Of the Week.

Until Next Time…

21-22 Streaming Info

-Streams for games in the ECAC can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.

-Streams in the WCHA can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.

-Streams in Hockey East this year can be found HERE. Hockey East once again is streaming all game live and for FREE.

-Streams for CHA games with the exception of Penn St. can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.

-Streams for NEWHA games can be found at each teams’ website. Subscriptions may be necessary to watch games.

NCAA Coaching Changes… Keep up with all the coaching changes across D-I and D-III HERE.

Give Someone a Stick Tap… Know someone in women’s college hockey who’s work needs some recognition? Nominate them for WCH.org’s monthly ‘Stick Tap’ HERE or Email us at: womenscollegehockey@gmail.com

Recruiting Events/League Online Directory… Find all the recruiting events on WCH.org right HERE. Want to add your event? Click HERE to fill out our WCH.org event form.

Grant Kimball is founder and contributing writer at Women’s College Hockey.org and beginning his 3rd season as an Assistant Coach with the Yale University women’s hockey program. Grant has developed an experienced perspective in the world of women’s ice hockey, having coached and recruited players from across the globe during his 25+ year amatuer and NCAA coaching career. He has coached at 6 NCAA DIII and DI programs in the NCHA (D3), the CHA, WCHA, Hockey East, ECAC, and the Ivy League (DI). Beyond coaching, Grant served as a site representative for the 2019 NCAA quarterfinal of the D-I NCAA Tournament. He also currently serves as an Officer with the American Hockey Coaches Association as Vice President of Membership and sits on the AHCA’s Women’s Hockey Executive Committee.

Post #38 — 3/27/21 — D-I Season Notes, Recruiting News, D-III Season, Sifters

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In This Post…

  • Recruiting Rule of The Day
  • 20-21 NCAA Season Notes
  • Recruiting: Spring Information Thaw
  • D-III Wrap-Up
  • Sifters

Recruiting Rule of The Day…

13.02.14.1 Recruited Prospective Student-Athlete is defined by the NCAA as…

Actions by staff members or athletics representatives that cause a prospective student-athlete to become a recruited prospective student-athlete at that institution are: (Revised: 1/10/90, 1/11/94 effective 8/1/94, 1/10/05 effective 8/1/05, 12/13/05, 4/26/17 effective 8/1/17, 4/25/18)

(a) Providing the prospective student-athlete with an official visit;
(b) Having an arranged, in-person, off-campus encounter with the prospective student-athlete or the prospective student- athlete’s family members; or
(c) Issuing a National Letter of Intent or the institution’s written offer of athletically related financial aid to the prospective student-athlete. Issuing a written offer of athletically related financial aid to a prospective student-athlete to attend a summer session prior to full-time enrollment does not cause the prospective student-athlete to become recruited.

20-21 NCAA Season Notes

With the NCAA season now complete, we imagine just about anyone who had anything to do with the 20-21 season is getting some much needed time off. COVID presented challenges unimaginable. There was no what-to-do-in-the-case-of-a-pandemic playbook to draw from. But now there is, and there are so many people to thank who made this season possible. So, a few thank you’s and some notes as we head into the Spring and await what the 21-22 season will bring.

  • To the Conference Commissioners… Jennifer Flowers-WCHA, Rob DeGregorio-College Hockey America and the New England Hockey Alliance (NEWHA), Steve Hagwell-ECAC, and Steve Metcalf-Hockey East. There aren’t enough THANK YOUs to go around. Without their collective determination, leadership, guidance, patience, and cooperation, we doubt a hockey season would have been in the cards.
  • To the Players… You are the ones who had to play the games and a feel level of safety doing so, otherwise you wouldn’t have played the games. You had to change how you lived your lives in order to keep your seasons safe as well as your teammates, coaches, and staff safe. The pressure you were all under to accomplish that, no one will ever fully know.
  • To the Coaches, school administrators & support staff… One can only imagine the stress level you all were under in this type of season. Hockey is a game that changes at a moments notice, and so was the case this year with how you had to manage everything about how this hockey season had to go in order for it to happen at all. To say this year was a grind, would be an understatement. To every coaches credit, you made it to the end and allowed for the ultimate to happen – the crowning of a national champion.
  • 11 of 41 D-I teams did not have a season in 20-21.
  • Of those teams who played a conference schedule, Robert Morris and Northeastern played the most games this year with 25. The least was played by Vermont with 11.
  • No two teams played more games vs. one another than Clarkson and Colgate. They played 10 games against one another.
  • 31 Hockey East games were broadcast on television this year on NESN the New England Sports Network.
  • ESPN and its family of networks broadcast the Frozen Four on ESPNU for the first time and will continue to for years to come after signing and multi-year contract with the NCAA.
  • Northeastern Junior forward Alina Mueller, (yes, junior), led the nation in scoring with 12 goals, 26 assists for 38 points in 25 games played.
  • Northeastern goaltender Aerin Frankel led the nation in goaltending statistics with a 0.81 GAA and a .965 SV %.
  • As of March 25 there were total of 79 women’s ice hockey players in the NCAA Transfer Portal, 35 joined since March 1.

Recruiting: Spring Information Thaw?

One vitally important aspect of the recruiting process largely missing since the pandemic hit as compared to most years, has been a lack of communication and information from college coaches back to recruits, their families, and club/high school coaches. This lapse in communication has been a major source of angst and confusion for players of the 2021 and 2022 recruiting classes who are trying to figure out what their academic and hockey future holds. But, as the saying goes ‘times heals all wounds’… and there could be some healing soon.

With the D-I season now over, college coaches will soon become better equipped to have these all important recruiting conversations with the ’21 and ’22 classes. But why the lapse in the first place? College coaches didn’t have all the info they needed to give recruits the direction they wanted. The NCAA muddied the recruiting process by granting everyone an extra year of eligibility in the Fall. That meant college coaches were put in the not so envious position of dealing with their graduating seniors and figuring out if their were going to return for a 5th year next fall. This added the opportunity for more transfer situations to occur than normal.

So, 2021 and 2022 recruits got stuck in the middle having had conversations with coaches last summer and then getting put on hold as COVID delayed everything, etc. In the coming weeks, college coaches will have a much b etter idea of what their rosters will look like. Why? It’s transfer season and things are really starting to heat up.

Transfer decisions usually happen at the end of the hockey season around now. College coaches generally don’t plan for transfers when forecasting future recruiting classes but that is something they’ve had to take into account this year with COVID. Transfering is not a quick or easy process. A player has to find a program, be academically eligible, and go through the admissions process at the institution as well as figure out finances. All that takes time… and now is when all of these decisions are happening.

To players and parents – hang tight. The information you are seeking is coming soon. As stated above, there are 79 women’s ice hockey players in the transfer portal, 35 joined since March 1. There are surely more to come. You can bet college coaches are scouring the portal to see who is making themselves available. All of this action will help coaches get a handle on how they’re going to manage their rosters and help shape the type of conversations they need to have with recruits.

D-III Wrap-Up

While the D-I season is over, some D-III teams are still playing. It’s been an odd season at D-III with the NCAA cancelling the NCAA National Championship due to lack of participation. Some conferences decided to allow their member teams to play games but not have a structured conference schedule. 21 of 65 D-III teams have not played a game this year. The CCC, MAC, NEHC, NESCAC, and NEWHL did not have conference schedules or playoffs. The MIAC, NCHA, UCHC, and WIAC, played conference schedules to the best of their abilities. The NCHA held it’s conference tournament with Adrian beating St. Scholastica 3-0 and 3-2 to take the best two-out-of-three. The UCHC’s top 8 teams will meet in their conference tournament which will run April 1-6, 2021. UW-River Falls beat UW Eau Claire 2-1 in game 3 for the WIAC conference championship held March 17-19. River Falls took game one 3-2, Eau Claire came back to win game two 3-0 to force a third and deciding game.

Sifters

COVID Update out of Ontario…

  • Teams registered with the OWHA will not be allowed to travel to the USA for tournaments in 21-22
  • Tournaments held in Ontario have not been sanctioned or given the green light just yet
  • No player movement from one team to another will be allowed until Sept. 1, 2021
  • Team tryouts are slated to begin Sept. 1

More Awards…

  • Northeastern head coach Dave Flint was named CCM/AHCA National D-I Coach of the Year. You can read the release HERE.
  • Penn State’s Kiara Zanon has won the AHCA Rookie of the Year Award chosen by D-I assistant coaching staffs. Each staff gets one vote. Runner up was Colgate goaltender Kayle Osborne.
  • Speaking of Penn State, the Nittany Lions will host the 2022 women’s Frozen Four next year.
  • The CCM/AHCA All-American Awards have been announced with two teams of six:

FIRST TEAM
G – Aerin Frankel, SR, Northeastern
D – Grace Bowlby, SR, Wisconsin
D – Skylar Fontaine, SR, Northeastern
F – Alina Mueller, JR, Northeastern
F – Danielle Serdachny, SO, Colgate
F – Daryl Watts, SR, Wisconsin

SECOND TEAM
G – Emma Soderberg, JR, Minnesota Duluth
D – Cayla Barnes, JR, Boston College
D – Ashton Bell, SR, Minnesota Duluth
F – Chloe Aurard, JR, Northeastern
F – Kiara Zanon, FR, Penn State
F – Grace Zumwinkle, SR, Minnesota

  • The Patty Kaz Award… will be unveiled at 2pm this afternoon on the NHL network during an hour-long special. Check your local cable and satellite provider for channel listings. The finalists are Northeastern goaltender Aerin Frankel, Wisconsin forward Daryl Watts, and Minnesota forward Grace Zumwinkle. You can get more info HERE.

The MN Girls State High School Tournament… is currently underway. The quarter-finals in class AA begin today at the Xcel Energy Center home of the MN Wild. The Class A quarter-finals wrapped up yesterday. You can get the Class A & AA tournament bracket HERE with scores and schedules.

COVID Bounces Men’s Teams from NCAA Tourney… Luckily this did not happen in the women’s NCAA tourney, but on the men’s side both Michigan and Notre Dame had to leave the tournament before playing a game due to positive tier I COVID cases. Tier I cases are those that involve people with the closest contact to players such as the players themselves, coaches, support and medcial staffs. Obviously a huge blow to both teams. Under tournament rules, BC and MN-Duluth automatically advance to the regional finals.

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!

Post #30 — 2/24/21 — NCAA News, Tournament Time, Weekly Poll, sifters

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In This Post…

  • NCAA Dead Period, Championship Attendance, Social Justice News
  • Post-Season Tournament Time
  • NCAA Weekly Polls…
  • Sifters

NCAA News…

There has been quite a bit of NCAA new over the past few weeks, so let’s get to it.

NCAA Dead Period Extended… The NCAA announced it would extend the temporary COVID recruiting dead period until May 31st. last week. You can read the official announcement HERE. As noted in the release, April 15 is the target date for the NCAA to give further guidance on the transition back to recruiting activities after June 1. If we had to guess, some kind of hybrid ‘quite’ and or ‘dead’ period model will be used. Meaning, we’ll probably see something like camps and clinics allowed first with in-person recruiting activities later in the summer. Unofficial and official visits may have to wait until the Fall.

Attendance Policy at NCAA Winter Championships Announced… The NCAA also announced it would allow 25% attendance for all its NCAA Winter sport championships – including the Women’s Frozen Four. This is as long as state and local authorities allow attendance at all. The WFF will be held in Erie, PA March 18-20 at Erie Insurance Arena home to the OHL’s Erie Otters. Capacity for hockey is listed at 6,716 and 25% would be 1,679. The NCAA’s announcement is HERE. We have yet to confirm if the WFF will have fans but if so, I would think 1,679 would be an easy number of tickets to sell out.

College Hockey Comes Together for Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion… A special group has formed representing every NCAA Division I women’s and men’s hockey conference in a new initiative called: College Hockey 4 Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. On Feb. 11th Jennifer Flowers, WCHA Vice President, Women’s Commissioner and chair of CollegeHockey4DEI along with 26 other individuals representing student-athletes, coaches, and administrators announced their intentions to make a cultural change within college hockey to be more diverse, inclusive, and equitable. You can watch the press conference announcement HERE and for more information please go to CollegeHockey4DEI.com.

Post-Season Tournament Time…

Conference Post-Season Tournaments Set to Begin… Hockey East began its post-season tournament Thursday with a March Madness hoops tourney style ‘Opening Round Game’ between #9 Seed Holy Cross and #8 Seed UNH with the winner facing off vs. #1 Seed Northeastern on Sunday. You can checkout the Hockey East Tournament press release HERE for schedules and streaming information as well as bios on how each team did this year. The format calls for an opening round game Thursday evening followed by four quarter-final games Sunday Feb. 28 with 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, and 4 vs. 5. Winners moving on to the semi-final round held Wednesday March 3 with the championship game played Saturday March 6.

In the ECAC, just four teams have played conference games this season–Clarkson, Colgate, Quinnipiac, and St. Lawrence. #1 will host #4 and #2 will host #3 in the four-team semi-final format on March 5. The highest remaining seed will host the championship game Sunday March 7. Seedings are still to be determined as any team with the right combination of wins and help from other teams could claim the #1 seed and regular season ECAC title. You can read more on the tournament HERE.

In the College Hockey America, Mercyhurst University along with the Erie, PA Sports Commission will host the CHA’s annual postseason tournament March 4-6, 2021 at Erie Insurance Arena. You can read the official tournament announcement HERE for schedule and streaming info. The CHA still has one weekend left in their regular season which will determine the eventual tourney schedule. Erie Insurance Arena will be the site of the Women’s Frozen Four March 18-20.

Out west in the WCHA, the top four teams will travel to Ridder Arena on the campus of the University of Minnesota to play in the WCHA Final Faceoff March 6-7. This a departure from how the WCHA postseason playoffs usually work, where all eight teams made the field and the tournament was held over two weekends. You can read the WCHA official tournament announcement HERE. Wisconsin, MN-Duluth, Ohio State, and Minnesota round out the top four and meet next weekend in Minneapolis to crown the WCHA Champion.

NCAA Weekly Polls…

Weekly polls are out as of Feb. 22.

RANKTEAM
1Wisconsin
2Northeastern
3Ohio State
4Minnesota
5Colgate
6Boston College
7Minnesota-Duluth
8Penn State
9Clarkson
10Providence
USCHO.com Poll
RANKTEAM
1Wisconsin
2Northeastern
3Ohio State
4Minnesota
5Colgate
6Minnesota-Duluth
7Boston College
8Clarkson
9Penn State
10Providence
USA Hockey Magazine/USA Today Poll

Sifters…

Patty Kaz Finalists Named… The 10 finalist for the 2021 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, given annually to the top D-I women’s player at the Frozen Four, were announced earlier this week. Wisconsin’s Daryl Watts and Clarkson’s Elizabeth Giguere, both past winners of the award, have been named finalists along with eight other players. Northeastern leads the field with three finalists. You can find the entire list HERE.

ESPN to Televise 2021 Frozen Four… In a major boost to expanding television coverage for D-I women’s college hockey and for our sports signature event the Women’s Frozen Four (WFF), ESPN has announced it has entered into a multi-year contract to broadcast the WFF held in Erie, PA on its family of networks beginning this year. You can read ESPN’s announcement HERE. ESPN3 the online streaming service will carry the first national semi-final while ESPNU, ESPN’s cable and satellite TV college sports provider, will carry the second semi-final as well as the championship game. While not the first time the WFF has been on a well know cable channel and streamed online, this however the first time the event will appear on a network with as much reach as ESPN has.

AHCA Naples Convention… The American Hockey Coaches Association is putting together options for its annual convention held in Naples, FL at the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Resort. A virtual online event and or an in-person event at the resort could take place. Just about every D-I/D-III women’s and men’s program, support staff, school administrators, conferences, officials as well as junior/youth/minor hockey programs and hockey related companies are members. COVID cancelled the convention last year. This year holds a bit more sentiment as the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Resort which has been home to the AHCA Convention for 30+ years, will be closing its doors and re-developing the property. The AHCA acts as the official NCAA hockey coaches association for all NCAA matters.

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!

Streaming Info

-Streams for games in the ECAC can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games in the ECAC.

-Streams in the WCHA can be found HERE for homes games at Bemidji, MSU-Mankato, MN-Duluth, and St. Cloud. Streams for home games at Minnesota, Ohio St., and Wisconsin can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games in the WCHA.

Streams in Hockey East this year can be found HERE and all streams FREE of charge for the 20-21 season.

-Streams for CHA games with the exception of Penn St. home games can be found HERE. Penn St. home game are streamed on the Big Ten Network + and can be found HERE.

Post #29 — 2/9/21 — Welcome to women’s college hockey.org

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In This Post…

  • Welcome to Women’s College Hockey.org …
  • NCAA Weekly Polls…
  • Sifters — lots of them…

Welcome to Women’s College Hockey.org

Hello everyone, Grant Kimball here, assistant women’s hockey coach at Yale University and welcome to Women’s College Hockey.org! Many of you started following my Bulldog Pipeline blog back in early October where we kept you updated with news, notes, and insight about our program at Yale as well as across the world of NCAA women’s college hockey. Since then, we’ve heard from many of you saying how much you enjoy our content, especially on the recruiting side with all the changes happening in the NCAA due to COVID.

So, in an effort to better serve and educate prospective players, coaches and fans about NCAA women’s college hockey welcome to your new home – Women’s College Hockey.org. Our new site is more robust which allows for additional content and special features like dedicated pages for advice to help you understand the recruiting process, view video clips of game highlights and coaches post-game reaction, league standings, and so much more. There may even be a podcast in our future!

The Bulldog Pipeline IS NOT GOING AWAY but it will get a new home as well on the official Yale Athletics Women’s Hockey website which can be found HERE–be sure to bookmark it! All previous content specific to our program from bulldogpipeline.com will migrate over.

Now you have two great online sources to keep you up to date with what’s going on in NCAA women’s college hockey AND with your Yale Bulldogs. We’ll continue to send emails of new posts once they go live. If you already signed up to follow the Bulldog Pipeline there is no need to do so again. And if you want to keep up to date with all that is going on in the world of Women’s College Hockey – sign up now and give us a follow so you never miss a post! Just go to the Home Page and enter your email address in the ‘Follow Us‘ box located in the right-hand margin of the page.

Okay… on to some women’s college hockey news! Happy reading everyone!

NCAA Weekly Polls…

Weekly polls are out as of Feb. 8 with no change at all between them except for the #8 and #9 spots.

RANKTEAM
1Wisconsin
2Minnesota
3Northeastern
4Ohio State
5Colgate
6-TMinnesota-Duluth
6-TBoston College
8Penn State
9Clarkson
10Providence
USCHO.com Poll
RANKTEAM
1Wisconsin
2Minnesota
3Northeastern
4Ohio State
5Colgate
6Minnesota-Duluth
7Boston College
8Clarkson
9Penn State
10Providence
USA Hockey Magazine/USA Today Poll

Sifters…

New National Goaltending Award Announced… The Women’s Hockey Commissioners Association announced a new D-I women’s national goaltender of the year award given annually to the top female goaltender. The winner will be announced at this years Frozen Four in March held in Erie, PA. On the men’s side they’ve had the exact same award named after former Wisconsin goalie Mike Richter since the 2013-2014 season. The Hockey Commissioners Association assumed the responsibility for the Richter Award this Fall and felt a women’s equivalent was long overdue. A ‘watch list’ of 21 names was announced last week. You can see who’d on that list HERE.

The Hockey Commissioners Association is made up of the commissioners of each women’s and men’s D-I conferences. They are heavily involved in the administration of NCAA D-I women’s and men’s college hockey as well as serving as a partner with the NCAA and the institutions their conferences represent.

D-III Winter National Championships Cancelled… All NCAA Division-III 2020-2021 Winter National Championships have been cancelled as per the NCAA last week. You can read the official story HERE. The NCAA said the reason for the cancellations were due to low sport participation, meaning there weren’t enough teams in their respective sports to have a bona-fide true National Championship. The NCAA set strict limits on how many teams in each sport must play this season in order to play and national tournament. No word yet on what will happen with Spring championships yet.

NCAA Contingencies for Winter Sports Announced… With the NCAA cancelling D-III Winter championships last week, they came out with a statement on contingencies for D-I Winter and Spring sport national championships. You can read the announcement HERE. Based on the number of teams competing in D-I hockey, a full 8-team field is expected to be selected.

One Site Location for Women’s D-I Championship… The NCAA announced it will hold the entire NCAA Women’s National Collegiate Championship at its Frozen Four site in Erie, PA March 15-21. All 7 games of the tournament, 4 qtr. final, 2 semi-final, and 1 championship game will be played at one site. Normally the 4 highest seeds would host a quarter-final game with the winners moving on to a single-site for the Frozen Four. Of course, this is all done to protect the health and safety of all participants in an environment where the NCAA can control what it wants – namely COVID testing. You can read the official statement HERE.

SAT Testing News… A big change from from The College Board, the company that administers the SAT Test… SAT Subject tests will no longer be offered and the optional Essay on the SAT will no longer be offered after the June SAT dates. You can read the official announcement HERE. Some additional SAT test dates were announced as well.

SAT/ACT Test Optional to Continue? A number of high profile institutions, Cornell and Harvard to name a few, have recently announced its extending test-optional policies beyond the ’20-’21 admissions cycle and into ’21-’22. No word if other institutions will follow suit, but you have to think with all the trouble students across the US and Canada have had to even register for a test date, more schools will go test optional.

Dartmouth and Brown announce Athletic Director changes… The Ivy League athletic director landscape has been upended with the announcements of Brown University Athletic Director Jack Hayes and Dartmouth AD Harry Sheehy will step down from their respective posts. Hayes has been at the Brown helm since 2012 and will move on to explore other opportunities, one of which starts March 1 in a new role with Bruin Sports Capital a private sports, entertainment and media company. Sheehy will depart Dartmouth after 45 years in competitive athletics, the last ten of which he spent with the Big Green. The news comes on the heels of both departments deciding to ‘restructure’ and cut various sport programs last Spring and Summer as the COVID-19 pandemic put a choke hold on college athletics. There has been an alumni groundswell of support as well as lawsuits to bring some of those sports back and some with success.

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!

Post #28 — 1/19/21 — Weekend Update, Scores and Highlights, COVID Recruiting, Sifters

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In This Post…

  • Weekend Recap…
  • Scores & Highlights…
  • COVID Recruiting Update…
  • Sifters…

Weekend Recap…

To clarify, the first ranking number you see will always be the USCHO.com poll and the second will be from the USA Toda/USA Hockey Magazine Poll.

How The Top 10 fared… Top 10 teams through Sunday’s games went 11-6-1-1-1 (W-L-T-OTW-OTL). #2 Wisconsin swept #1 Minnesota at home in Madison.

#3/4 Northeastern needed OT to beat Maine

#4/3 Ohio State split with #6 Duluth.

#5 Colgate beat #9 Clarkson at home in game one of that series.

#7 Providence swept its weekend series with Merrimack.

#8 Boston College swept its series with Holy Cross.

#10/NR Mercyhurst tied and lost to Robert Morris in OT

#NR/10 Quinnipiac swept its series with LIU.

All scores, game highlights, and postgame reaction can be found below.

COVID Postponements… Due to COVID protocols the Penn State @ RIT and Lindenwood at Syracuse series were postponed.

Conference Standings as of 1/18/21…

Friday Scores & Highlights – 1/15

Holy Cross 2
#8 Boston College 3
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video
#1 Minnesota 0
#2 Wisconsin 5
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video (MN)
#7 Providence 3
Merrimack 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Concordia-Wisconsin 1
Adrian College 9
Box / NO Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Robert Morris 2
#10/NR Mercyhurst 2
Box / Video Highlights & Postgame Reaction
UCONN 1
New Hampshire 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Bemidji State 1
St. Cloud 3
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Ohio State 0
MN-Duluth 2
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video
Penn State @ RIT – PPD
Lindenwood @ Syracuse – PPD

Saturday Scores & Highlights – 1/16

#10/NR Mercyhurst 2
Robert Morris 3 (OT)
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Long Island Univ. 0
#NR/10 Quinnipiac 5
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Minnesota 3
Wisconsin 6
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video (MN)
#9 Clarkson 1
#5 Colgate 4
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Bemidji 2
St. Cloud 2 (OT) BEMIDJI Wins Shootout 1-0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
#4/3 Ohio State 1
#6 MN-Duluth 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video UMD
Adrian College 4
Concordia-Wisconsin 1
Box / No Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
UCONN 4
New Hampshire 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Penn State @ RIT – PPD
Lindenwood @ Syracuse – PPD

Sunday Scores & Highlights – 1/17

Merrimack 2
#7 Providence 4
Box / Video Highlights & Postgame Video
Maine 2
Northeastern 3 (OT)
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video
#NR/10 Quinnipiac 11
Long Island Univ. 0
Box / No Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up

COVID Recruiting Update… Players & Parents Hang In There!

Recruiting in women’s hockey has been turned on its head and in many respects has come to a standstill for certain age groups. Needless to say, it’s been a bit messy. On March 12th, 2020 the NCAA announced the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Women’s Hockey National Championship due to concerns over COVID. Shortly after that announcement the NCAA announced a temporary ‘COVID’ recruiting dead period which basically meant no off-campus recruiting for D-I coaches nor could recruits and or their families make trips to visit campuses in an official or unofficial capacity. Since then, the COVID recruiting dead period has been extended several times and is currently in effect until April 15, 2021.

As coaches we often tell our players to be patient… things will work themselves out in time. Well… whether you’re a player, a parent, or minor/youth coach reading this, I’d like to offer the same bit of advice – be patient with the recruiting process during COVID.

I’ve spoken to several club and high school coaches since the holidays on how the pandemic is impacting their players. Almost across the board, coaches have intimated their players and parents are on full out freak-out mode relative to their D-I recruiting situations and perceived loss of opportunity–mostly for those who are in grade 11. And the biggest complaint I heard is the lack of information coming from college coaches back to these players and parents. And there is good reason why college programs aren’t providing that info — because they don’t have it themselves, yet.

Part of this angst stems from a recruiting environment we were all used to prior to the pandemic where early commitments and back-and-forth communication was the norm. Players could call coaches on their own and get the info they wanted/needed to make decisions or just to know who had interest in them was nice to know because it meant you might have some options. Since June for those in grades 9 and 10, most of that has been taken away due to NCAA rules. Players in grades 11 and 12 have been subject to a whole new world of college recruiting in the COVID era where coaches won’t know how many spots they’ll need or what there roster could look like in a lot of cases until May or June this Spring. I’ve talked with plenty of college coaches of late, and the sense I get is they want to be patient. Not being able to see players play live doesn’t make for great recruiting decisions. And let’s face it – players haven’t really been able to play. Some yes, but this hasn’t been a normal hockey season of development. Add in a whole class of NCAA players who can come back and play next year and you have a new transfer market college coaches are now taking into account. Trouble is, college coaches won’t know who’s going to transfer in a lot of cases until this Spring.

When I first started coaching in the early 2000’s, coaches wouldn’t even call players for the first time until the summer between a players’ junior and senior year when the rules said we could. Official visits were a real and a vital aspect of the recruiting process which absolutely helped determine who we made official offers to… after the player came to campus. Players would actually take multiple visits to schools before making a decision and for the most part were patient with the process.

Then, all of a sudden the process changed and early recruiting/commitments became the norm. So too did the expectations of players, parents, and their club or high school coaches. Patients in the process went out the window. Enter the pandemic, a NCAA dead period that will last at least 13 months, and NCAA rules allowing current college players an extra year of eligibility… Welcome back to the early 2000’s and programs taking their time to make recruiting decisions.

Here is the reality for a lot of college programs–they don’t even have all of the info they want and need to make recruiting decisions. In part because watching live games of club and high school hockey has been off-limits due to the dead period. And also because the NCAA threw a nice wrench into the mix granting all players on a roster this year an extra year of eligibility. A lot of programs are still trying to hash-out what seniors may come back or transfer elsewhere. Chances are that won’t be known until sometime this Spring after the season is over.

The old saying ‘control what you can control’, really applies here – otherwise you are going to drive yourself nuts over-thinking all of this. You can’t control what the NCAA does nor a college program.

So if you want to be smart, use this time to your advantage and take control of your development. Do what you can to make yourself a better player so when the time comes for coaches to get back out on the road and watch games live, you’re ready and can show them how much you’ve improved. You might have to re-think your approach to your process like taking a gap year somewhere or you might have to consider other schools where you know there is an opportunity for you. Because there are still spots available out there – but you have to be good enough to get one. Case in point… when the Univ. of North Dakota dropped their program in March of 2017, all but a player or two found a home. That meant there had to be space on rosters and scholarship money available to give out – and there was. So, if you’re one of those players who’s in a holding pattern and haven’t heard much from the coaches you were chatting it up with this summer or early fall, take a deep breath, hang in there and be patient as you let this crazy process play itself out. Things will get better but it will take some time.

Sifters…

Transfers Make Debuts… A couple of recent transfers have made debuts with their new teams. Freshman forward Lacey Eden was supposed to suit up for Princeton this year but has found her way to Madison, Wisconsin and is now a Badger. She skated in her first game this past weekend in UW’s sweep in #1 ranked Minnesota. You can read her story HERE. Maureen Murphy suited up for Northeastern this past weekend after spending 2+ years at Providence College. The Hockey East executive committee granted her immediate eligibility beginning this Spring semester. You can read her story HERE.

A Change for the May Quiet Period… There has been talk D-I Coaches will try and request the NCAA to suspend its self-imposed May quiet period this Spring. D-I coaches in women’s hockey have long had what is called the May Quiet Period where from the Monday prior to the American Hockey Coaches Association convention (usually late April) and ending 12:01am June 1, coaches were not allowed to go off-campus to recruit and evaluate or meet face-to-face with perspective players and their families. So, with the NCAA COVID temporary dead period slated to end on April 15, that would give D-I coaches a 10 day stretch to get out and watch players play. Not exactly an ideal amount of time to make recruiting decisions. By April 15, D-I coaches will have gone a year + without being able to watch players live. We’ll keep you posted on future developments.

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!

Post #27 — 1/15/21 — mon / tues scores and highlights, ncaa polls and wknd schedule, sifters

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IN THIS POST…

  • Monday/Tuesday Scores & Highlights…
  • Polls and NCAA Weekend Schedule…
  • Sifters…

Monday Scores & Highlights

Lindenwood 5
RIT 1
Box / No Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Long Island Univ. 1
Clarkson 5
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up

Tuesday Scores & Highlights

Long Island Univ. 1
Clarkson 8
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Providence 0
Northeastern 4
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video

Polls for the Week Jan. 11…

Both polls are out after last weekend’s games and they are identical. We have a new #1 and Penn State debuts at #10 in both polls for the first time this season. Congrats to coach Kampersal and his staff. Penn State is currently 6-1-1.

RNKTEAM
#1Minnesota
#2Wisconsin
#3Ohio State
#4Northeastern
#5Colgate
#6MN-Duluth
#7Providence
#8Boston College
#9Clarkson
#10Penn State
USCHO.COM Top 10 Poll
RNKTEAM
#1Minnesota
#2Wisconsin
#3Ohio State
#4Northeastern
#5Colgate
#6MN-Duluth
#7Providence
#8Boston College
#9Clarkson
#10Penn State
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 10 Poll

Weekend Schedule…

Schedule in full swing… Once again we have a packed schedule over the next 5 days–24 games in all from today through Wednesday. NESN Plus will once again provide some televised Friday afternoon hockey at 2pm today with Holy Cross traveling to play Boston College. NESN Plus will also carry game 2 Saturday at 6:30pm. As always, streaming info is at the very bottom of each post. We’ll keep you updated throughout the weekend with scores and highlights if we can find them.

Notable Games… For the first time this year we’ll see the consensus #1 vs. #2 in what is known as the ‘Border Battle’ between #1 Minnesota vs #2 Wisconsin. This will be the 107th meeting all-time between these two programs. Both games will be in Madison and are set for a 3:07pm EST puck drop each day. Friday’s game will air on BTN+ and Saturday’s will also air on Fox Sports North as well as BTN+.

Also in the WCHA, #3 Ohio State travels to take on #6 MN-Duluth.

In the ECAC, #9 Clarkson and #5 Colgate will play a Saturday / Monday home-and-home series. Game one is set for Saturday 4pm at Colgate. Clarkson is coming its first two games of 2021 in a sweep of LIU while Colgate managed a sweep of ECAC opponent Quinnipiac. This will be the 5th and 6th games these two teams play against one another this year already… and 4 more are scheduled for later this year.

In the CHA, Robert Morris travels to play Mercyhurst for two games. Robert Morris is coming off getting swept by Penn State last weekend and the Lakers last played on Jan. 7 beating RIT 4-0.

And in Hockey East, #7 Providence takes its 7-1-1 record on the road to Merrimack Friday. On Sunday, the Friars return home to face Merrimack on the back-end of their home-and-home series.

And for the first time in quite a while we have some D-III hockey action to talk about as Concordia-Wisconsin travels to play Adrian College Friday at 4pm. You can watch that game live HERE. The same two teams will pack-up the busses after Friday’s game and head back to Wisconsin to play the very next day at 5pm CST.

Sifters…

COVID Postponements… Penn State will have to wait at least one more weekend to defend its new top 10 ranking as their next two series with RIT have been postponed beginning with this weekends’ games due to RIT COVID protocols.

Vermont’s series with Maine has been postponed due to COVID protocols within Vermont’s program.

The NHL, it’s back… The NHL began its 2021 season this past week and we saw some fans in the stands!

Streaming Info

-Streams for games in the ECAC can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games in the ECAC.

-Streams in the WCHA can be found HERE for homes games at Bemidji, MSU-Mankato, MN-Duluth, and St. Cloud. Streams for home games at Minnesota, Ohio St., and Wisconsin can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games in the WCHA.

Streams in Hockey East this year can be found HERE and all streams FREE of charge for the 20-21 season.

-Streams for CHA games with the exception of Penn St. home games can be found HERE. Penn St. home game are streamed on the Big Ten Network + and can be found HERE.

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!

Post #26 — 1/12/21 — wknd recap, scores and highlights, nwhl in lake placid, sifters

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In This Post…

  • Weekend Recap…
  • Scores & Highlights…
  • NWHL Set to Compete in Lake Placid Bubble…
  • Sifters…

Weekend Recap…

To clarify, the first ranking number you see will always be the USCHO.com poll and the second will be from the USA Toda/USA Hockey Magazine Poll.

How The Top 10 fared…

Consensus #1 Wisconsin hosted #4/3 Ohio State and split winning game 1 but losing game 2 in overtime. Both games had identical scores of 2-1.

#2 Minnesota played a home-and-home-and-home vs. St. Cloud Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Gophers came away with the three-game sweep winning 2-1, 4-1, and 4-0. Taylor Heise paced the Gophers with a Hat-Trick on Sunday while linemates Emily Odena and Freshman Abby Murphy each chipped in with 3 assists.

#3/4 Northeastern hosted New Hampshire and took game one 3-1 Friday night. Saturday the series shifted to the Olympic sheet of the Whittemore Center at UNH and ended in a tie 2-2. Chavonne Truter for UNH tied the game with just under three minutes to go. After a scoreless overtime, UNH won the extra point in a 5-round shootout 1-0.

#5 Colgate hosted #NR/10 Quinnipiac for a pair of games and came away with two wins, 4-0 and 4-1. Colgate improves to 6-1-1 and Quinnipiac falls to 3-2 on the year. Colgate’s Danielle Serdachny had 4 points, two each game, to help Colgate secure the sweep.

#6 MN-Duluth was idyle.

#7/9 Providence traveled to Holy Cross Saturday and came away with a 5-2 victory. Providence went up 1-0, then found themselves down 2-1. Providence would then score 4 unanswered goals with Hayley Lunny, Sara Hjalmarsson, and Annelise Rice getting two points a piece on the day.

#8 Boston College played a home-and-home with Merrimack and swept both games 5-3 at home and 3-1 on the road in North Andover. BC forward Willow Corson had a three-point weekend to help BC move to 7-3-0 on the year while Merrimack falls to 1-5-0.

#9/7 Clarkson was Idyle

#10/NR Mercyhurst was supposed to host Sacred Heart, but those games were postponed.

In other games…

MSU-Mankato @ Bemidji… Mankato swept Bemidji 2-1 and 4-0.

Vermont @ UCONN… Vermont got the road sweep at UCONN shutting out the Huskies 2-0 Friday and on Saturday coming back from a two-goal deficit to win in OT. Freshman goaltender Jessie McPherson got her 2nd shutout of her career in as many games Friday. Vermont moves to 5-1-0 and UCONN stands at 3-5-1.

Penn State @ Robert Morris… The Nittany Lions of Penn State did something they never have – they swept Robert Morris. Penn State followed up Friday 3-2 win with a commanding 4-0 victory on Saturday.

Lindenwood @ RIT… Lindenwood got its 1st victory of the year downing RIT 2-0 on Sunday. Game 2 is set for Monday at 3pm est.

COVID Postponements… Due to COVID protocols at Sacred Heart, Mercyhurst postponed its game with the Pioneers. No make-up date has been schedule.

Conference Notes… NEWHA Announces Season Plans… Hockey East Video Update… WCHA Commissioners Corner Video… ECAC Season Promo Video… CHA Releases 2nd Half Schedule…

Friday Scores & Highlights – 1/8

Merrimack 3
Boston College 5
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video
#4/3 Ohio State 1
#1 Wisconsin 2
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video
MSU-Mankato 2
Bemidji 1
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
New Hampshire 1
#3/4 Northeastern 3
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video
Vermont 2
UCONN 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Penn State 3
Robert Morris 2
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up

Saturday Scores & Highlights – 1/9

#4/3 Ohio State 2
#1 Wisconsin 1 (OT)
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video
#8 Boston College 3
Merrimack 1
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Penn State 4
Robert Morris 1
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Vermont 3
UCONN 2 (OT)
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
MSU-Mankato 4
Bemidji 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
#NR/10 Quinnipiac 0
#5 Colgate 4
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
St. Cloud 1
#2 Minnesota 4
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
#3/4 Northeastern 2
New Hampshire 2 (OT) UNH Wins Shootout
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
#7/9 Providence 5
Holy Cross 2
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up

Sunday Scores & Highlights – 1/10

#NR/10 Quinnipiac 1
#5 Colgate 4
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Lindenwood 2
RIT 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
#2 Minnesota 4
St. Cloud 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video
Sacred Heart –
#10/NR Mercyhurst –
PPD

NWHL Set to Compete in Lake Placid Bubble…

The National Women’s Hockey League is in final prep mode for its 2-week bubble season that begins with player arrival January 21.

The NWHL bubble is taking place in Lake Placid, New York with team arrivals scheduled to take place Jan. 21 through 23 in a staggered fashion. A final schedule will be made public soon. We do know the semi-finals and championship game will be broadcast on NBCSN Feb. 4 and 5. This will be the first time a major television network in the US will broadcast professional women’s hockey.

Sifters…

One More Opts-Out… Division III Finlandia University of the NCHA has opted-out of the 20-21 season sighting the health and safety concerns for the program. You can read the full announcement HERE. The Finlandia men’s team still plans to continue play this season. The Northern Collegiate Hockey Association is set to begin play after Jan. 14 and a full conference schedule is expected to come out soon.

Predetermined sites for all NCAA Winter Championships… The NCAA announced yesterday it will hold all Winter sport championships at predetermined sites, this includes D-III women’s and men’s hockey. Championship sites that have been previously announced can continue to host provided local and state health authorities say it is safe to do so. The women’s D-I championship is scheduled to be played in Erie, PA March 19-21. You can read the NCAA’s official announcement HERE.

A New #1… The USCHO.com Top 10 poll has been released and we have a new #1 – the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Gophers had a 3-game sweep of Saint Cloud this past weekend, while previous #1 Wisconsin split with Ohio State. We’ll have a rundown of both polls tomorrow.

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!

Post #25 — 1/8/21 — WED / THURS RECAP, NCAA POLL AND WKND SCHEDULE, SIFTERS

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IN THIS POST…

  • Wednesday/Thursday Recaps…
  • Polls and NCAA Weekend Schedule…
  • Sifters…

Wednesday Scores & Highlights

RIT 1
Mercyhurst 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Sacred Heart –
Long Island Univ. –
PPD – COVID – Write-Up

Thursday Scores & Highlights

Mercyhurst 4
RIT 0
Box / NO Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
St. Cloud State 1
Minnesota 2
Box / NO-Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up

Polls for the Week Jan. 4…

Both polls are out after last weekend’s games. Some variance between the two towards the bottom.

RNKTEAM
1Wisconsin
2Minnesota
3Northeastern
4Ohio State
5Colgate
6MN-Duluth
7Providence
8Boston College
9Clarkson
10Mercyhurst
USCHO.COM Top 10 Poll
RNKTEAM
1Wisconsin
2Minnesota
3Ohio State
4Northeastern
5Colgate
6MN-Duluth
7Clarkson
8Boston College
9Providence
10Quinnipiac
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 10 Poll

Weekend Schedule…

It’s a packed schedule as the college hockey schedule is now back in full swing. As you can see below, we do have a few TV games on NESN, 2pm and 4:30pm today Friday. As always, streaming info is at the bottom of each post. We’ll keep you updated throughout the weekend with score and highlights if we can find them.

Sifters…

One More Team Begins Play Soon… St. Lawrence University is back on campus and will take part in the ECAC schedule. Players recently arrived on campus and are going through COVID protocol. If all goes well, SLU will play their first game vs. Colgate Jan. 22.

USA Wins World Junior Tourney… Team USA beat arch rival Canada 2-0 to win the gold medal at the IIHF World Jr. Championships. What a performance from USA goaltender Spencer Knight, he was spectacular. It doesn’t matter how good a team you have in front of you, teams need excellent goaltending if you want to win – as well as goal scoring. Very entertaining game to watch… it looked like the pace Team USA played at was a bit much for Canada to handle at times. And what an advertisement for NCAA college hockey… Congrats to the all NCAA coaching staff of Team USA, including Theresa Feaster, the first women asst. coach at a major men’s IIHF event.

COVID Recruiting… Interesting article about Wisconsin’s recruiting. You can read it HERE. It brings up a topic we posted earlier about – recruiting in the new COVID era for college hockey. This is a topic we are going to pick up again with a more in-depth post. Wisco is not the only school who will ‘wait and see’.

Streaming Info…

-Streams for games in the ECAC can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games in the ECAC.

-Streams in the WCHA can be found HERE for homes games at Bemidji, MSU-Mankato, MN-Duluth, and St. Cloud. Streams for home games at Minnesota, Ohio St., and Wisconsin can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games in the WCHA.

Streams in Hockey East this year can be found HERE and all streams FREE of charge for the 20-21 season.

-Streams for CHA games with the exception of Penn St. home games can be found HERE. Penn St. home game are streamed on the Big Ten Network + and can be found HERE.

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!

Post #24 — 1/5/21 — WKND RECAP, SCORES AND HIGHLIGHTS, SIFTERS

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In This Post…

  • Weekend Recap…
  • Scores & Highlights…
  • Sifters…

Weekend Recap…

How The Top 10 fared… Teams in the Top 10 went 6-0-0 this weekend as of Sunday evening. #1 Wisconsin squeaked by MSU-Mankato winning two 1-goal games, 3-2 and 1-0. It was the Badgers first set of games in a little more than a month. #3 Northeastern Swept Maine 3-0 on Sunday and 1-0 Monday. In the process, Northeastern goaltender Aerin Frankl recorded her 20th and 21st career shutout and is now the new program shutout leader. #4 Ohio State took two games from Bemidji State 4-1 in game one and 7-1 in game 2 where OSU had 68, yes–68– shots on goal. Mercyhurst won its lone game of the weekend, an exhibition game vs. D-III Adrian College which we talked about in our previous post. Mercyhurst went up 3-0 after two periods but Adrian came out strong in the 3rd, out-shooting Mercyhurst 7-5 and scoring two goals in the process making for a very entertaining period.

D-III Adrian College Continues D-I Swing… Up next for Adrian was another CHA opponent Robert Morris University as it continued on its New Year’s D-I swing Monday afternoon. Things didn’t go as well for Adrian as they did at Mercyhurst as Robert Morris proved to be too much. RMU forwards Lexi Templeton and Michaela Boyle paced the way for RMU with three points each and all three goaltenders for RMU saw action. We don’t have game highlights below at this time but we’ll post them once available.

Vermont swept Holy Cross in Burlington beating the crusaders 4-0 and 6-1. Vermont held Holy Cross to 16 and 17 shots on goal respectively. Vermont freshman goaltender Jessie McPherson earned her first career start, win and shutout on Friday. Not a bad way to begin your college career.

Quinnipiac fired 53 shots on net enroute to a 6-0 win vs. Long Island University Sunday. This was LIU’s first game of this season, while only the 3rd for the Bobcats. Quinnipiac and LIU will meet 3 additional times this season. In two weeks QU and LIU will play in a home-and-home series Jan. 16-17 and one final time Feb. 26.

COVID Postponements… #6 Minnesota-Duluth had to postpone it series with the #2 ranked Univ. of Minnesota Golden Gophers as Duluth did not have the minimum number of players required by WCHA return-to-play protocol. No timetable has been given for a makeup date. Duluth was supposed to travel to Minneapolis.

Hockey East announced Saturday’s game between #3 Northeastern and Maine would be rescheduled on Monday Jan 4. No reason was given as to why the game was moved to Monday. Game time is still set for 4pm and will air on NESN.

Friday Scores & Highlights – 1/1

Holy Cross 0
Vermont 4
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video
Bemidji State 1
Ohio State 4
Box / No Video/Write-up / Postgame Video

Saturday Scores & Highlights – 1/2

Holy Cross 1
Vermont 6
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-up
Adrian 2
Mercyhurst 3
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-up
Bemidji 1
Ohio State 7
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video
Wisconsin 3
MSU-Mankato 2
Box / Video Highlights / MSU-Postgame Video
Wisconsin Postgame Video

Sunday Scores & Highlights – 1/3

Wisconsin 1
MSU-Mankato 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video
Wisconsin Postgame Video
Maine 0
Northeastern 3
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video
Long Island Univ. 0
Quinnipiac 6
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-up

Monday Scores & Highlights – 1/4

Maine 0
Northeastern 1
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video
Adrian 0
Robert Morris 7
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video

Sifters…

1980 Miracle On Ice Teammates Face-Off… Wisconsin Badger head coach Mark Johnson and Minnesota State Mankato head coach John Harrington, teammates on the 1980 USA Gold Medal Olympic Team, faced each other as their teams battled it out this weekend. You can imagine how competitive these two individuals are having not only been Olympic athletes, but major contributors as Team USA beat the Russians at the Olympics in 1980. We can only imagine the pre-game speeches. I’m sure neither likes losing, much less to one another, but in college hockey there are no ties. Coach Harrington came into this weekend having won the last game going back to Feb. of last season. This time around, coach Johnson now has the upper hand beating MSU-Mankato twice in close games.

Minnesota High School Hockey Revs Up, COVID Masks Mandatory… Minnesota High School Hockey started today. Monday 1/4/21 is the first official practice day with 1/14/21 the first official start day for games. COVID mask coverings will be mandatory to wear. Additionally, in almost all cases no spectators will be allowed at practices. For now, games will be without fans and concessions… AKA the snack-bar, will not be selling food items. Girls hockey will have an 18-game schedule followed by the state tournament playoffs. Tourney dates are TBD as of now.

NCAA Temporary COVID Recruiting Rules Update… On Dec. 18th the NCAA updated its temporary COVID dead period rules, some of which affect coaches like yourselves. D-I coaches are not allowed to have in-person contact with coaches or individuals associated with prospective student-athletes. With all of the COVID state travel restrictions, I doubt there is a lot of this happening in our sport, but nonetheless, the NCAA put it in writing. We’ll be putting together a ‘NCAA Rules You Should Know’ post very soon–should be very informative for coaches, players, and parents.

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!

Post #23 — 1/1/21 — HAPPY NEW YEAR! UNH / HOLY CROSS RECAP, POLLS AND WKND SCHEDULE, SERIES PREVIEWS, SIFTERS

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IN THIS POST…

  • Happy New Year!..
  • New Hampshire/Holy Cross Recap…
  • Weekend Schedule/Polls…
  • Series Previews…
  • Sifters…

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2021… and good riddance to 2020. Wow – what a year it has been. No need to go into details, you know them all too well. But as a new year begins, we at the Bulldog Pipeline would like to wish everyone a healthy and safe start to a prosperous and joyful year ahead.

Great things are happening at Yale with our program and we can wait to get back to a more normal way of life and college hockey season. Happy New Year!

New Hampshire vs. Holy Cross Recap…

New Hampshire 2
Holy Cross 5
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame

In almost a complete reversal from a week earlier, Holy Cross up-ended New Hampshire 5-2 for its third victory of the year. Holy Cross netminder Jada Brenon turned aside 49 of 51 UNH shots for the win and good for a .960 save %. It was just a week earlier on Dec. 23rd where Holy Cross found itself on the wrong side of a 6-2 loss against UNH. Holy Cross was a perfect 3-for-3 on the power play and 5-of-6 on the penalty kill while UNH only went 1-for-7 on the PP. These two teams will meet again in a home-and-home series in late February.

Weekend NCAA Schedule/Polls…

All Times are Eastern Standard Time, EST.

Observations…

D-III vs. D-I… NCAA Division III Adrian College is continuing their season against two D-I teams this weekend. Tonight, it’s facing nationally ranked (USCHO.com poll) Mercyhurst University and Monday will take on vs. Robert Morris University, another strong CHA opponent. RMU is a program that has been to the NCAA tournament and nationally ranked before. So you have one of the best programs in D-III going against some of the best in Division I. Should be an interesting match-up. For those who don’t know or follow D-III hockey all that much, you should. After many years as a D-I asst. coach, I got the opportunity to start a D-III program from scratch as the head coach at Aurora University and play in the same conference as Adrian. We took a beating, granted we were a brand new team, but they were tough, skilled, and well coached. I can tell you there is some excellent hockey being played at that level. Adrian College is just one of many D-III teams that have a long tradition of success with a quite a few D-III alumni playing on NWHL rosters.

The University of Wisconsin… The Badgers will finally get to play its 3rd & 4th games of the year this weekend vs. Minnesota State University-Mankato. After only playing its first series of the year back in late November, UW is still currently ranked #1 in both the USCHO.com and USA Hockey Magazine/USA Today Top 10 polls.

Long Island University… Head Coach Rob Morgan and the Sharks get their first game action of the year as they take on Quinnipiac Sunday. The Sharks are coming off the programs’ inaugural season in 2019-2020 as a D-I program where they won the New England Women’s Hockey Alliance playoff championship. LIU and Sacred Heart are the only NEWHA teams to play this season.

National Polls – Week of Dec 28…

Weekly Polls… With no games last week, there are no updated weekly polls.

What the Top 10 are up to…

Where Is The Top 10 This Week… As we mentioned above, #1 Wisconsin is back at it this weekend vs. MSU-Mankato for 2 games. #3 Northeastern and #4 Ohio State are back in action since before the holiday break. Northeastern hosts Maine while Bemidji travels to Columbus to face the Buckeyes. #10 Quinnipiac hosts D-III power Adrian College for one-game Friday.

#2 Minnesota, #5 Colgate, #6 MN-Duluth, #7 Clarkson, #8 Boston College, and #9 Providence are all idle this weekend.

Series Previews…

Holy Cross @ VermontVideo Preview
Bemidji @ Ohio StateVideo Preview
Adrian @ MercyhurstVideo Preview
Wisconsin @ MSU-MankatoVideo Preview
Maine @ NortheasternTBA
Long Island Univ. @ QuinnipiacTBA

Streaming info is below. TBA series previews will be updated as they become available.

Sifters…

Women’s Hockey On TV… The New England Sports Network (NESN) will televise each game of the Maine/Northeastern series this Saturday and Sunday. Games time are set for 4:30PM & 4PM. I will say NESN has done a great job of broadcasting women’s hockey games this season. Curious to know if the uptick in the amount of televised women’s games was a contractual obligation with Hockey East and would have happened anyway w/ out COVID? Anyway, it’s nice to see a major sports network broadcasting games.

Men’s World Junior Tourney… The IIHF Men’s U20 World Junior Championships are entering its playoff phase in Edmonton, Alberta. They are using a very similar bubble approach to hosting the event as did the NHL. Team Canada and Team USA came in first-place of their respective groups.

Sweden… Tre Kronor, who had won 54 strait preliminary round games dating back to 2006, has now lost two games in a row. They lost 4-3 in OT to Russia Dec. 30 and 4-0 last night to Team USA. That is quite a streak! Interestingly, Team Sweden’s loss in 2006 cam when the tournament was held in Sweden to Team USA in OT. Jack Johnson scored the winner.

Germany Moves to Quarter Finals… Team Germany is moving on the to Quarter Finals for the first time… ever with a thrilling 4-3 win over Switzerland. And they’ve done so with a shorthanded group too. Several players tested positive before the tournament began which gave Germany just 14 skaters through the first few games of the tournament. Credit Germany’s first round pick in the 2020 NHL draft Tim Stutzle – this kid is fun to watch.

Streaming Info

-Streams for games in the ECAC can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games in the ECAC.

-Streams in the WCHA can be found HERE for homes games at Bemidji, MSU-Mankato, MN-Duluth, and St. Cloud. Streams for home games at Minnesota, Ohio St., and Wisconsin can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games in the WCHA.

Streams in Hockey East this year can be found HERE and all streams FREE of charge for the 20-21 season.

-Streams for CHA games with the exception of Penn St. home games can be found HERE. Penn St. home game are streamed on the Big Ten Network + and can be found HERE.

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!

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